Participative Management is a necessary evil in the organisation. Examine this statement in the light of the following aspects.

1. System 4 of Rensis Likert is not universal.
2. Matrix organisation of Chris Argyris is not essentially functional
3. Theory Y has no universal validity

Points
Participative management theory is a behaviouristic dimension of managing the organisations

It is developed by the scholars like Rensis Likert, Chris Argyris, and Mc Gregor

Participative Management is necessary because

• It is democratic
• It is motivating
• It fulfils the psychological of the employee
• It promotes productivity

It is an evil because – 

• Participation may be misunderstood
• It is a new technique of exploitation
• If it is not properly designed, it becomes dysfunctional participative management is analysed by the under the strategies of System – 4, Matrix, and Theory – Y

System 4 is not universally valid when the employees are not self disciplined

Matrix Organisation creates disputes and confusion.

Theory – Y will not be universal as it is not suitable to the organisations like PSUs in India.

Simon, perhaps more than any other social scientist, enlightened the world about the darker side of decision making ie the irrefutability of the process of decision making to be minimally rational. Examine the statement in the context of Simon as a Classical Thinker.

Simon is a behaviourist

Simon developed 3 models of decision making - 

• Social man who makes absolutely irrational decisions 
• Economic man who makes absolutely rational decisions
• Administrative man who makes boundedly rational decisions

Human decisions in the organisations are less than logical

Several factors operates in the bounded rationality –

• organisational rules,
• organisational environment,
• irrational thinking based on hunch,
• group think,
• emotions,
• limited capacity of the brain to analyse,
• status quo orientation,
• individual biases,
• limited availability of information,
• preference for safety,
• preference for quick results,
• Beliefs.

 This bounded rationality is universal

However Chris Argyris equates Simon as a classical thinker for over emphasizing the analysis of rationality and ignoring human behaviour in the organisations.

Conclusion: Simon in fact was the first person to highlight the behavioural tendency in the human decision making.

Hawthorne studies marked the continuation of the Saint-Simonian tradition after a century – long gap, and the beginning of human relations

Saint-Simonian tradition is concerned with anti-rabble Hypothesis

The context of HRT is provided by the first world war, high noon of the scientific management and great economic depression

Taylor’s philosophy has resulted in treating the workers as machines. Therefore HRT came up with a new idea of treating the people like human beings.

With this vision HRT emphasises the following aspects:

• Individual
• Informal organisations
• Informal communication
• Participative management
• Democratic leadership
• Non-material rewards to motivation

However the HRT was criticised on various grounds like

1. Human relations may not be the reason better production
2. It is a new kind of exploiting the workers
3. Mayoists were cow sociologists and happiness boys
4. The scientific approach of HRT is doubtful

However HRT has laid foundation to treat the workers as human beings but not as inert and isolated machines.